This invention relates generally to mounting harnesses for power tools. More particularly it relates to a mounting harness adapted to connect a hand-operated router to the support arm of a standard radial arm saw, without removal of the saw. The additional support and positional alignment capabilities of the support arm are thereby advantageously employed, resulting in precise control of position in the work plane and precise control of depth of cut.
A conventional radial saw includes a horizontal support arm, with a track therealong, which is positionally adjustable with respect to a fixed vertical column. Heretofore, the general concept of mounting power driven tools, aside from the normally mounted saw, to the horizontal support arm of such a radial saw has been known. A structural frame clamp for positioning and attaching a router to a radial saw in order to enable a user to accomplish overhead routing operations is the subject of U.S. Pat. No. 4,084,629, issued to Kreusler on Apr. 18, 1978. The Kreusler patent teaches the attachment of a hand-held router to a radial saw arm without the removal of the saw by clamping the router onto the radial saw arm using a structural frame which is not adapted for easy rolling or sliding movement of the router on the radial saw arm. In accordance with the Kreusler patent, movement of the router along the axis of the radial saw arm necessitates unclamping the entire structural frame and router combination, repositioning the structural frame and router combination at the desired location and reclamping the structural frame to the radial saw arm.
Movement of the router along the radial saw arm using the Kreusler development is time consuming and inconvenient due to the fact that the structural frame members supporting the hanging router are fixedly clamped to the radial saw arm and do not provide for rolling movement thereon. Furthermore, the router is retained by the structural frame using a collar portion and a compression band which inherently are not the most efficient means for counter-acting the rotational moment of an operating router. If the rotational moment is insufficiently restrained it can result in damage to the router occasioned by slippage and can jeopardize the safety of the operator.